House of the Day: 1591 East 17th Street

Usually a two-family consisting of two identical units on two floors would be too small for an owner-occupant, but this one strikes us as very livable for a family. Each apartment has three real bedrooms off a hallway, and the entertaining rooms are graciously arranged enfilade with a sunroom and lots of windows.

There are also some nice early 20th century details, such as moldings and doors. And it comes with a garage and a small yard. The listing makes no mention of the mechanicals or other systems, though. Did anyone see it when it was an open house pick? Does the ask of $1,200,000 seem reasonable for this location?

7 Comment

You think of floor-throughs as too small because you are used to seeing floors of non-very-deep single family brownstones cut up into apartments. There are plenty of deeper buildings around, built as separate apartments with twice as much space per floor, and this is one of them.

I agree. These buildings, usually from about 1920-1940, are very common in Windsor Terrace, Kensington, Midwood, Sunset Park, and Borough Park. They are usually 20×60 and some are even wider and longer. 1200 sq ft is as much as two floors of a 16×35 ft house, which you might find in a place like Greenwood Heights or Windsor Terrace.
They are often solidly built with a lot of windows on the alley side and a huge basement with windows all around. Many in Borough Park have additional floors built on top.

Just to clarify, I am not confusing original two-families with original one-families that have been broken up into apartments. I have lived in both; seen dozens of original two-families in Bed Stuy, Bushwick, Sunset Park, and Crown Heights, all of them built in the teens or earlier; and I own an original two-family in Bed Stuy. Chemosphere, I am not familiar with the later housing stock you describe, but it’s wonderful to know those options exist in those neighborhoods. Maybe we should move!

Since this place looks to be about 2400sf, we only need to ask if this is a $500/sf location. I don’s know, but it sounds a bit on the high side to me. Streeteasy gives Midwood an average price of $416 per ft², so this probably needs to drop below the $1m mark.